Thanks for the mention in CatchUp Coen!

As I take a breather and review all the work up til now, I still have many questions that need to be answered. Thanks for all the support by you and the rest on this forum. More to come.

New versions:

Notes:

• Hugh model posed in all frames.
• Basic posing of the hero Hunter creature done.
• All background Hunters will need to be added.
• Visual FX not started (smoke, dirt, tire tracks etc.)
• Basic shading will be decided during rendering phase.

During the final render phase and polish in SketchUp (which will wait until the entire book is roughed), I’ll be determining shadow tones, dialogue placement, and any extra rendering elements.

You and me both, brother!

Must... stay on target...!

Jason, believe it or not, I wouldn't mind having someone do it by hand. So if you think you're up to it, we should talk. It'll have to wait a little since I'm early in the process, and my mind only has room for 2 things at once, and this is number 5 on that list

But we will definitely discuss!

Hey Archi! That's cool! I'm not sure I want to go through all that work to color and shape the images. That will take me ages!

I personally like the "flatness" of some of my test images I've been doing. It actually embodies the story theme because the terrain of this world (Earth of the 'future') is flat and dry.

I just wanted to add that this is an ongoing process for me, and that the look of the comic might change as I further develop it.

Some things I still need to explore and research:

• Different printing technologies (I'm thinking about some non-traditional binding)
• SketchUp Styles - This is a big one, and will require some serious experimenting. I've read some how to's on creating styles, and they seem simple enough but I just gotta dig in and try it out. In addition I'm gathering some reference to use to help me define the style I'd like to emulate.
• Dialogue text, and bubbles, plus text sound fx. This stuff is going to be tricky, and I want it to look like a traditional comic and not done on the computer per-se. My lettering is poor and I might have to enlist a pro.
• Am I going to use Layout or Photoshop to create each page? It's likely that I'll use both, but how much will I lean on Layout?
• Overall tones and coloring of the book. It's not going to be in color, but the tonal values are just as important. I'd like to create something that I can tweak to further the visual storytelling.

If anyone has any thoughts on this I'm all ears.

Thanks guys!

Here's a polished up version of one of the panels:

You can see some of my Maya posing and SU importing on my blog:
http://www.giantmonster.tv/giant/?p=404

Once this scene is done, I'll be thinking about creating a SU Style, and putting all the panels into Layout. That Layout test will determine if I use it or not (or consider the next rev). I'm not sure if it can handle all the geometry I have to throw at it.

I've been slowly working away at my comic and I'm beginning to gain some awesome momentum. The results are my first hard core page roughs:

You can read my blog post about it here:
http://www.giantmonster.tv/giant/?p=401

I wanted to hear from hardcore Layout users if they think I can do all this in Layout. I've tried it when version 6 first came out but it didn't click with me (I found it cumbersome to use). I might need to give it another try. FYI, all the image panels come from 1 single SU file, with multiple cars, and characters repeated over a long flat landscape. The foot print is massive.

My next steps are to layout some tonal tests, and then just jump into final images.

Futhermore, you can remove hidden faces from the tube in various ways. Your method is probably one of the fastest, but there is a faster way even: select the top and bottom Faces and Control/Option+Click the segments (not the connecting Edges) and Group them, Hide the Group. Triple-Click the geometry (which sits in the same position) and Erase it. Bring up Hidden Geometry (powerusers have a shortcut key for this) and UnHide the Group. Explode the Group.
This may seem as more steps but believe me it will speed things up even more.
Alternatively you can select the to-be-Erased Faces and then Group the selected Faces and Erase the group, as demonstrated in this video (skim the timeline to about 80% into the movie).
[/quote]

Holey Toledo Coen! That is the single most useful tip I've gotten. It has knocked the current #1 off it's perch - eraser+crl+click.

Am I a power user yet?

@unknownuser said:

@monsterzero said:

1. Show/Hide Component Instances available from your Model info panel (I believe it's called the Components/Groups section where it is to be located (not on home PC now)). Bind a shortcut to the function to quickly turn on/off external items while editing a Group or Component. You can do the same with Components to show/hide the other Instances.

I've been using this lately (shortcutting it to "c") and its been really helping me out. Thanks Coen!

Coen - cool tips!

The show/hide thing I'll look into that - it could be very useful! I'll have to figure out how to fit it into my work flow.

The camera thing is my zen, it helps me picture the future of the piece in my imagination. I personally don't like swishing the scroll wheel rocker back and forth. It just seems odd and unnatural to me. Plus, I use a tablet, and my buttons are very limited. In my next video you'll see why the tablet is so important in how I work.

Will03
Thanks for the compliments! There are those people out there kicking butt, we see it here in the gallery all the time. I just pimp my stuff a lot. Plus, all my models are made for looks, not efficiency so I'm a cheater, cheater, pumpkin eater. (don't tell anyone)

Craig
It'll probably be built pretty fast since I'll design it on the fly purely in SU. Your comments will have to come fast and quick Perhaps it'll inspire another month long marathon. I'm dying to do another one of those!

I was in the mood to figure out the problem with an old video I recorded quite a while ago and couldn't post on Youtube. To keep a long story short, I'll just say, I fixed it.

This video shows how I tune the model up from tube shapes to the muscle groups in the arm and the torso. Watch it here:

Wow. I hadn't realized that I didn't answer Craig's last post. The bike will be made at the very last minute, since it doesn't play a part in the story until the end. It'll be a low slung drag racing style shape but with an old school frame and mechanics. Plus some nice pipes.

New Sam image on my blog:
http://www.giantmonster.tv/giant/?p=313

CraigD - Oh, I must not have been clear in my posts. She pilots this:
http://www.giantmonster.tv/giant/?p=315
(She also has a motorcycle strapped in the cargo bay)

Fletch - I'm not sure what "crossing window" means.

Coen - I have a perspective toggle shortcut set to the "tab" key which I constantly use.

Coen! Cool, dude! Reminds me of Syd Mead/Empire Strikes Back! Cushy ankles!

Here's the results of today's zen meditation in SU. Still more work to be done, but it was a good days work. As always you can find more information on my blog:
http://www.giantmonster.tv/giant/?p=310.

I should also add that your technique would work perfectly well. Some of the things I do are because I use a tablet, and because I have a "flow" of working. SU is very zen and meditative for me. Sounds funny, but I just get into a state of working and sometimes it's hard to stop. It really uses my creative brain.

That said, I'm always looking for new techniques, all the better to reach nirvana.

Rock on!

CV = Control Vertex

SU "hides" these points from the user. You can move them individually, but you can't select them in the traditional sense. Most other 3D apps let you select them.

I push and pull those like a madman. That's how I make the muscle groups that are in the prior images.

Yeah, the posing is the tricky part. I had to re-orient the arms of one of my other models a few days ago, and ugh, what a pain. I have a simple technique that helps, but as I worked I kept thinking about starting over and completely rebuilding the arms I was moving and the portion of the torso I was blending it into.

Coen! You made my head explode.

(it's a good explosion though, thanks!)

I think I get what you're saying, and I don't know if I see huge time savings. I still have to draw the contour, which in itself is not a precise process (given my rough sketch). In the end, I still tweak Almost every CV, so there's still a lot of work to be done.

Or maybe I'm missing something? I'll re-read your post a few times and perhaps it'll click. I'll have a new post showing my latest progress today.

Perhaps Alan F has some tidbits to share as well, because he's a madman the way he cranks out the human figures.

Here's an update to the Sam character model.

I started modeling a new character for my comic, Fuel & Fire. Consider this a work in progress. More updates will follow, both here and on my blog.

You can learn some of her important details on my blog and see a sketch of her garb:
http://www.giantmonster.tv/giant/?p=298

As of this post I've only done about 60 minutes of actual modeling work. You can view that time (compressed to 10 min) on youtube:

I posted an image showing the end results after my 60 minutes on my blog:
http://www.giantmonster.tv/giant/?p=305